


At the End of the Day

by coffee_queen



Category: Iron Fist (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Liberal use of the word fuck, M/M, Post Defenders, Pre-Slash, Sharing a Bed, Ward is an idiot, Ward trying to be better, and only failing a little, but it's Ward so Danny doesn't mind, but it's Ward so it's not gratuitous, continuing mockery about how much work Danny doesn't do, continuing mockery of Danny's powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-12-24 09:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12009657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffee_queen/pseuds/coffee_queen
Summary: Against all odds, Ward Meachum was still Danny Rand's safe place





	1. Chapter 1

Ward had had one hell of a day. Travelling was bad enough on a normal day, but travelling back to New York after the world almost ended- thanks, Danny- had made everything at least seventeen times worse. He should have been back an hour ago, at his most optimistic guess, and that was going to be late enough anyway. He wanted to sleep for a month, or, at least, the few hours before he had to get up and go back into work, but he wasn’t even going to get that- Danny Rand did not take up a lot of space, apart from when he was sprawled across Ward’s bed, apparently. He put his hands on his hips and stared at Danny for a minute- there was a chance he fell asleep standing up for a while so it might even have been longer. He should let Danny sleep- he had heard what happened while he was away, some even from Danny himself, and it sounded like literal hell, but there had to be a line somewhere. He marched across the room and shook Danny awake.

“Wa…”

“The hell you doing in my bed, Danny?”

“The world went to shit, Ward, and the only place I wanted to be was with you.”

Ward should probably have a reaction to that- it sounded like it should be important- but his brain had given up after the arduous task of moving from the doorway.

“You could move over, at least.” Ward swore that if Danny didn’t respond in another minute, he would walk away, pretend that he was too tired to remember anything if Danny ever brought it up again.

Danny shifted back across the bed without taking his eyes off Ward.

Ward had the sense to kick his shoes off at least- his jacket was in the hall and his tie was god knows where- he could deal with the rest of the crumpled suit he’d be wearing in the morning. He climbed into bed and pulled the sheets up. He closed his eyes, but knew that Danny was still watching him. He waved his hand behind him, somewhere close to where he thought Danny’s head still was.

“Go to sleep, Danny.”

“But…”

“Just go to sleep.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ward wanted things to be better with Danny, but that was never going to stop him from panicking

Ward was panicking as soon as he woke up. He might have been panicking the entire night, if his half-forgotten dreams were anything to go by, but his problem was now. He could do the grown-up thing and talk to Danny, get everything out in the open, maybe even help Danny with whatever was troubling him so badly last night. Or he could continue to lie here and panic, which was a much easier option. He couldn’t even concentrate on one thought long enough to work out what any of it meant and he eventually gave up. He would have to face this after all. He opened his eyes, turned to the side and Danny was already gone. He sent up a prayer of thanks- maybe he would not have to deal with this, after all.

\--

Ward arrived at the office much more at ease with everything. Or in complete denial. Either way, he was functioning and less distracted- the three pints of coffee he drank might have helped. He even managed to smile at one of the women behind the front desk, which everyone should have taken as a bad sign. He was going to have a perfectly fine day. He even got himself to believe that, right up until he banged into Danny in the hallway outside his office.

“The fuck are you doing here, Danny?” Blunt as ever, Ward.

“Working?” Danny stared up at Ward through his eyelashes. “Trying to stay out of the way and not cause any more trouble?”

“That’s not…” Ward rubbed his forehead. “You’re allowed to take a break, after everything that happened. You don’t have to be here, Danny.”

“I need to keep busy.” Danny shrugged. “You don’t have to be here, either- you didn’t get back ‘til the middle of the night, Ward, and you slept like shit.”

"Yeah, well, I’m not used to someone sleeping next to me.” Well, Ward was not going to be able to avoid talking this now. 

“You should have said- I would have…”

“It’s fine.” It was not. It might have been the weirdest thing in Ward’s life and he’d seen his father rise from the dead twice, but he couldn’t bring himself to quash the spark in Danny’s eyesp. He smiled and clapped a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.” He would be able to do all the worrying for both of them.

“But if it…”

“Danny.” Ward squeezed Danny’s shoulder and stayed quiet for a few seconds. “I was a shitty friend to you for pretty much forever and I wanna be better. If that was what you needed after probably the worst few days of your life, then I was… Look, I’m trying to say that I’m here for you, no matter what.” He turned away, before he got even more emotional and created a scene that he did not have the will to deal with today, and walked towards his office. “Now, go do some fucking work, for once in your life.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ward wasn't expecting Danny to seek him out again and almost managed to mess things up

Ward was already working on being less of an asshole to people, Danny, in particular, and was not failing at that most of the time- despite the best of intentions, it was still hard to break the habit of a lifetime. Things were going in the right direction, though.

The whole sharing a bed thing was not a factor- it was just something that had happened when he and Danny were both exhausted. That was all it was ever going to be.

Then it happened again.

\--

Ward had been working twenty five hour days for… so long that he’d forgotten. He had finally escaped his office, sworn at the person who tried to drag him into another meeting and promised not to come in for at least three days- they had just finished a major deal so it’s not as if they would need him anyway. He had, at his most conservative estimate, broken three driving laws in his haste to get home, but the consequences paled in comparison to finally climbing into bed. He hadn’t even taken off his coat and wasn’t planning on moving until at least tomorrow afternoon.

Of course, Ward hadn’t factored Danny into his thoughts at all.

Ward was jolted out of possibly the most glorious sleep he had had in his entire life by the edge of the bed dipping. He buried his head in the pillows.

“That better be you, Danny.”

“Yeah.”

Ward was about to pull the sheets back and move over when the coppery smell finally caught his attention.

“Is that blood? You better not be bleeding all over my sheets, Danny.”

\--

Ward felt better when he got up in the morning; he had only missed his desire to sleep until the afternoon by seventeen minutes so he would let that slide because he didn’t feel like he needed coffee just to function for the first time in maybe a month. He hadn’t found any sign of Danny when he’d finally climbed out of bed so he had assumed that Danny had left again, if he had even been there in the first place- it would not have been the first time Danny had wandered through his mind in the middle of the night recently, but he was far too focussed on relaxing to think about that. He thought things were back to normal.

In fact, Ward carried on thinking that things were normal until he walked out into the living room and found Danny slumped across the couch, a pile of blood-stained towels on the floor by his side.

“Oh, hey.” Danny sat up when he noticed Ward approaching.

“Don’t ‘hey’ me.” Ward tried to focus on Danny’s face instead of the bloody towels, but his eyes kept flickering over anyway. “The fuck is this?”

“You told me not to bleed on your sheets.”

“Jesus.” Ward turned his head away and clenched his fists. He counted to five before he turned back towards Danny. “This is serious! I don’t want you bleeding out in the hallway….”

“I’m not in the hallway- I’m on the couch.”

“Or on the goddam couch!” Ward glared at Danny- the location of where Danny was bleeding was clearly the most important part of this conversation and he would have slapped Danny on the side of the head for making that comment, and for the accompanying lopsided smile, if he wasn’t busy working through his anger. “Just because I couldn’t stop being an asshole overnight.”

“I…”

“No.” Ward crossed the room and sat on the couch next to Danny. He put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. He ran a hand down his face before he looked back over his shoulder at Danny. “Don’t you get it- I can buy new sheets; I can’t buy a new Danny.” 

“I…” Danny hung his head, but looked up at Ward through his eyelashes and did his best to smile. “You know, I’m not even bleeding anymore. I heal pretty quick now.”

“That’s not the point. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a goddamn scar.” Ward stared at Danny and pointed at the towels. “That is not okay. If you’re bleeding or you’re hurt or you need dragging out of jail for the fourth time in a month…”

“It was only three times.”

“So far- it’s a good job you know a few lawyers, right?” Ward rolled his eyes and scoffed. “I am here for you, remember? I don’t care what I said, you are more important than some sheets or some fucking sleep.”

"I don't...” Danny lowered his gaze and fidgeted with the edge of the couch cushion. He bit the inside of his lip and his eyes flicked up to Ward’s face several times. “I don’t want to bother you.”

“You’re not a bother, Danny.” Ward put a hand on Danny’s knee. “You’re my friend.” He smiled for a few seconds. “Now, clean up that fucking mess or you’ll have to buy me a new floor, never mind new sheets.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ward was starting to realise how important Danny had become to him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that there's been a massive delay in the posting of this chapter but I wanted to have a little more already written before I posted any they got unexpectedly frustrating so I thought a little break might make them behave a little more.

That wasn’t the end of it, of course- despite Ward’s comforting words, Danny still kept climbing into his bed at every available opportunity (“You owe me another new set of sheets, Danny. You need to work harder at keeping your blood inside your body- there isn’t a thing in this place you haven’t bled all over.”, “That’s not true- I have never bled in your closet.”, “What a fantastic achievement.”). Apart from those times that he was already in Ward’s bed by the time Ward finally made it home, of course (“It’s three a.m., Ward- how are you only just getting home?”, “One of us has to run the damn company. Now, move over- you take up too much goddamn space.”). Ward stopped counting after the fourth time it happened and he stopped caring soon after that- it was still weird, he knew that, but it didn’t matter anymore because Danny was so much happier lately and he liked being able to help. He could handle it, then, because it was something that they both needed. This was just how things were going to be now.

Until they weren’t.

\--

On a rare night, Ward and Danny were both home by early evening- Danny was lounging across the couch, Ward was on his way back from the kitchen with more beer and there was a buffet of Chinese food on the table in front of them (“You’re costing me a fortune in take-out, Danny- you telling me that you didn’t take one cooking lesson in between all that karate?”, “It’s not…”, “Yeah, yeah, yeah- you’re gonna have to pay for your own damn food one of these days.”).

"Pass me the spring rolls, Ward?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Ward stopped just outside of the kitchen and stared at Danny. “They are literally right next to you.”

“Ate too much. Can’t get up.” Danny turned his head to the side and stuck his bottom lip out. “Please.” 

“You’re pathetic.” Ward still walked over and handed Danny the carton of spring rolls that were on the coffee table next to his feet. He smacked the back of Danny’s head on the way back to his own seat, but he felt bad enough to ruffle Danny’s hair afterwards. “You couldn’t use your magic powers to pick ‘em up?”

“They’re not magic and telekinesis isn’t part of the deal.”

“So what?” Ward raised an eyebrow. “You’re just a lazy fuck?”

“And you’re an asshole.”

“Yeah.” Ward flicked off the lid of his beer bottle and handed the other to Danny. “You don’t need to save the world tonight?”

“Nah.” Danny gulped down another mouthful of spring roll. “Luke said he and Jess could handle it.”

“Right.” Ward tried to hide his laughter, but couldn’t manage it. He took a few seconds to compose himself, but he couldn’t wipe the smirk from his face. “You know that means they’re fucking, right?”

“They’re not. Well, okay- they are. I think they started back up again not long after New York. I feel bad for Claire, you know, but I’m pretty sure Luke and Jess are soulmates so…”

“Wow. Romantic.”

“Ward, I already know you’re an asshole- you don’t have to keep proving it to me.”

Ward responded by sticking his middle finger up and grabbing the last spring roll out of Danny’s hand.

“You’re not helping.” Danny folded his arms across his chest and huffed. For about three seconds. “So they are sleeping together, in general, but I think tonight is a genuine case of heroics.”

“Right.” Ward watched Danny for a few seconds. “Are you okay staying out of it?”

“I don’t need to be in every fight.”

“You sure? Because after…”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay.” Ward held his hands up. He turned back towards the television- there was some movie on that Danny had picked, not that either of them had been paying attention. He wasn’t paying attention now either- he was drinking his beer and watching Danny through the corner of his eye. He wanted to ask more, to make sure Danny was really feeling okay with everything, but he had never been good at making the first move.

Luckily, Danny never stayed quiet for long.

“Besides, it’s nice to have some time off once in a while- stay at home with you for a change.”

Ward got as far as opening his mouth to respond before Danny’s words really hit him- ‘stay at home with you’. The words hit him like a ton of bricks- Danny thought of this as home, Danny thought of him as home. His head was still spinning from that revelation when something else hit him- he didn’t think this was home without Danny any more. He couldn’t remember the last time Danny wasn’t here. He couldn’t even remember when he stopped wanting Danny to not be there because it was mildly inconvenient to him. He didn’t remember when sharing a bed with Danny became his normal routine and not just something either of them needed for comfort once in a while. He didn’t remember when….

“Are you even listening to me?”

“What?” Ward snapped himself out of his daze and looked at Danny. When did Danny move? When did he put his jacket on? “What’s happening?”

“Come on, man.” Danny clapped his hands in front of Ward’s face and held his phone out, like it would explain everything. “Luke. It’s bigger than they thought. Like maybe bigger than… I’ve gotta go.”

“Yeah.” Ward breathed a sigh of relief- Danny not being here would probably give him enough space to sort through everything. “Go save the world.”

"Okay. Sure. I’ll be late and I will try to not bleed everywhere again when I get… Are you okay? You seem….”

“Just… try not to die, yeah? You came back from that once- no one will believe that you can’t do it again and, honestly, I don’t need the stress of explaining it all.”


End file.
